Taiwanese transportation authorities said the plane was forced to
make an emergency landing in Penghu County’s Huxi township, the
main island of the chain also known as the Pescadores.

Transportation Minister Yeh Kuang-shih said there were 58 people
- 54 passengers and four crew members - on board the
plane.Two of
the people killed were French and identified as Jeromine Deramond
and Penelope Luternauer, the state agency said.

The plane caught fire “at the end of the runway” and ten
people sustained injuries, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA)
reported.

Local media say that the pilot was experiencing difficulties
landing the plane in Penghu due to a typhoon, which was ravaging
the area.

“It was thunderstorm conditions during the crash,” said
Hsi Wen-guang, a spokesman for the Penghu County Government Fire
Bureau, as quoted by Reuters.

"From the crash site we sent 11 people to hospital with
injuries. A few empty apartment buildings adjacent to the runway
caught fire, but no one was inside at the time and the fire was
extinguished," he said.

One of the plane's flight data recorders was recovered, Taiwan's
transportation minister said at a news conference, adding that
investigators are to examine the crash site on Thursday.

Flight GE 222 was scheduled to take off from Kaohsiung at 4 pm
for Magong, but the departure was delayed until 5:42 pm because
of the typhoon.

Flight GE 222 requested a go-around while trying to land at
Magong Airport in difficult weather conditions and then lost
contact with the control tower when it was about 300 feet above
the ground, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The plane was caught in Typhoon Matmo, which hit Taiwan on
Wednesday, closing schools and businesses. The typhoon has now
headed into China and has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

TransAsia Airways mainly flies domestic routes with some flights
to Japan, Thailand and Cambodia and has a fleet of mostly Airbus
aircraft.

The ATR 72, which took off from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan was
14 years old, according to CNA. The ATR 72 is a French-Italian
built turbo prop and can carry up to 74 passengers.